Charlotte — Greetings from a little place called tobaaaaaaaaco road… or at least close to it …. as things are already off to a surreal start at the Democratic National Convention. It’s like Clint Eastwood is in the house.

The moment happened last night at the media party. No surprise that Code Pink snuck in there — they crash EVERYTHING — and were dancing to a band playing a medley of Led Zeppelin hits. Yes, the Pinkers were grooving to one of GOP VP-nom Paul Ryan’s favorite bands. And, after dancing at free booze and food fest, they — of course — unfurled a protest banner tune decrying the inflated role of money in politics…during a cover of a Black Eyed Peas tune.

Yeah, the Peas. Remember when will.i.am used to write songs about Obama? That was soooooooooo four years ago. Now Code Pink protests during Peas covers. And The San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate.com’s Shaky Hand Productions was there to capture the moment…as soon as we put down a cocktail which was dubbed “Call a Cab.” And for good reason, we hasten to add.

To the Shaky Hand… (The woman holding the banner on the right is San Francisco’s own, Code Pink founder Medea Benjamin):

[gopher videoid=”1818745819001″ isbrightcove=”yes” autoplay=”no”]

Two more notes on the free media hog slopping:
1. A wholly unscientific survey of the crowd there by actual reporters estimated that about 5 percent of the attendees were actual reporters. You could tell who was a real journalist. They were near the buffet or bar…elbowing me out of the way.
2. As there was no parking on site, attendees were shuttled to the venue by bus from the convention center. The bus caravan was ushered on the 10-minute drive through Charlotte’s streets by a police motorcycle escort. Uh, we really appreciate it…but is that really the best use of police time?